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Order of the Radiant Cross
__FORCETOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__ The Order of the Radiant Cross was established in the 113th year after the founding of Pendor by Baron Jorn of Dunglave; the city of Dunglave is now known as Janos. It was formerly an Order of doctors that was militarized in order to defend their physicians from bandits and rogues. The order was one of the prominent forces to battle the invasion by the Greater Baccus Empire in the 202nd year after the founding of Pendor. Overwhelmed in the battle of Sagent Glade, they were all but destroyed by the legions under General Oasar. When General Oasar became “Overlord”, and after the desertion by the Jatu, he incorporated the order colors to form the identifying marks of his elite cavalry units. While these Cavalrymen are not true Knights by any stretch of the imagination, and they do not operate under the Validus Charta, the colors survive and the citizens of the Empire often refer to these mounted soldiers as the remnant of that once noble order of Knights. This Order is a fair one, recruiting from both peasantry and nobility with one goal: defending physicians of the Empire so that they may find a cure to the Snake Cult plague. They were reinstated by Marius Imperator and are considered part of the "New Empire". One would expect these knights to be poorly armored horsemen. However, they would be extremely shocked to see them riding on powerful mounts like the Ironbred Chargers and Dark Silver Warhorses. Despite some of their numbers being recruited from peasantry, they are extremely good fighters, even more so than the disciplined Empire Legionnaires. They may be one of the weaker orders, but their melee skills with the Claymore, Battle Hammers and Morningstars are not to be underestimated when they are mounted. They also use lances and black iron spears to counter pikemen. Even when dismounted, the Radiant Cross Knights are fierce warriors, ready to give their lives for the cause of their Order. Radiant Cross Knights do not function as well as Lion Knights as besiegers, but they do make good defensive infantry. They may not be as feared as the Eventide or Dawn Knights, but they have a lower upkeep. Helping them further is that Imperial Radiant Cross Plate is the single best armor utilized by any of Pendor's Knighthood Orders. The Order of the Radiant Cross has a large battalion of Plaguewardens in their ranks, which they assign to physicians of the Empire to assist and protect them in their endless war with the Snake Cult. The Plaguewardens generally consist of Empire citizens who wish to fight back against the growing influence of the Snake Cult. They are decently armored individuals armed with the Empire Broadsword and the deadly Polehammers. They also use Siege Crossbows with Siege Bolts used by the efficient Empire Armored Crossbowmen, although they are slightly less accurate and lethal. Plaguewardens also wear the heavy Empire Hastatus Armor. Their role in defending the physicians allows the heavier knights from the Order to go on the offensive against the Snake Cult. Game info Joining the Order of the Radiant Cross requires 500 renown, 20 honor and at least neutral relations with them. There is a 80% chance that a chapter will start in Ethos. You must own Ethos to found a chapter of this Order, as well as 25,000 denars, 20 Honor and wary (-10) or better relations with the order. Creating a chapter of this order will lower by 20 relations with Snake Cult and Rogue Knights (rivals, also for the bounty order quest). Knights of the Radiant Cross are trained from Pendor Knights. The Order regularly recruit commoners as Radiant Cross Plaguewardens to protect and defend the physicians of the Empire. Uniquely, the Plaguewardens can be trained from Mercenary Sharpshooter. They start being neutral to the player (0 relation). They are allies with all the major kingdoms (20), in good terms with Empire Immortals, trustful with the Order of the Phoenix (90) and friendly with Order of the Shadow Wolves (50). They are smart scholars, they have observed and learnt a lot in the time they have existed. They realized the Order of Eventide cooperates with heretics, thus they are against their order (-50). They also intensively hate the Order of the Shadow Legion (-100) as they know they cooperate with the Snake Cult against the new Empire, their home. They are neutral with the rest of the orders and in odds with the major Hateful factions. Changes from 3.8.4 Order * Their chance of starting in Ethos raised from 10% to 80% * The price to found a chapter of the order raised from 20,000 to 25,000 * The honor required to both join them and found a chapter of their order raised from 15 to 20. Knight * Silver Gauntlets (7) -> Black & Iron Gauntlets (7) * Blunt Steel Polehammer -> Battle Hammer (1x) * Polehammer and Blunt Steel Polehammer replaced by Battle Hammer * Added Gold Rounded Bascinet - Open * 'Gold Rounded Bascinet - Open' now gives 2 body armor (56/2) from (56) * Hounskull Bascinet - Open: +6 head armor (56) from (50) * Add 1x Hounskull Bascinet - Open * Add 1x Dark Silver Warhorse * Power Throw: 0 -> 7 (to match the template) - won't affect him though Radiant Cross4.jpg|Knights in 3.8.4 Radiant Cross3.jpg|Knights in 3.9.0 Radiant Cross.png|Knights armor in 3.9.4 Sergeant * Level raised from 35 to 36 * Upgrades from the new Mercenary Sharpshooter * Their prestige cost is now x1.2 times higher * Gained 1 point in every skill (7-6-6-6 template from 6-5-5-5) * Crossbow proficiency raised from 260 to 280 * Will always have crossbow and bolts (before just some of them) * Gauntlets (7) -> Black & Gold Gauntlets (7) * Dark Leather Boots (24) -> Black Greaves (36) * Add 1x Empire Hastatus Armor (52/14) * Changed Legion Helm (48) for Ebony Helm with Feathers (50/1) Radiant Cross1.jpg|Plaguewardens in 3.8.4 Radiant Cross5.jpg|Plaguewardens in 3.9 Tavern Conversation Player: If you wouldn't mind, may you tell me some history of your order? Knight: Of course, I would be delighted to shed some light on our orders history! The creation of our chapter in 113, by Baron Jorn of Dunglave, is an interesting tale. Medicine men, are what the men of the order are known by. The state of medicinal knowledge in Pendor was abysmal, to say the least, in the beginning years of our founding. Subsections of the Validus Charta charter allows members to proliferate the cities, fiefs, towns, you name it, with knowledge of medical advancements from Amala. From various herbal concoctions to simple remedies for the average ache of the head. The order was the bedrock foundation for the curb of pestilence and disease. Player: That's truly amazing! But why is your tale of the order interesting? Knight: The years passed and the increase in overall health throughout the land was incredibly better than at the start of our cause. Then The Red Plague came in 198. Tales say the men never seen anything so deadly. That it was an unstoppable plague that wiped out the Royal family in it's entirety and many knighthoods succumbed and collapsed due to so many deaths. We still don't know where this disease came from or why it suddenly appeared. But it bore a resemblance to The Poxaspa Plague used by the Snake Cult over in Amala. Although it is hard to say since many records were destroyed since then and no trace of the disease even exists anymore. Player: That's quite terrible, hopefully it got better! Knight: At first, it didn't. Due to the orders resilience in preventing the plague from reaching the ranks by sheer self-exile, they had to become more militarized since war was rampant throughout Pendor due to the lack of a single king or queen. The order supported one of the Legatus' at the time when General Oasar of Amala came in the year 202. Oasar conquered what little resistance the southern lords could put up. At the battle of Sagen Glade, the order was caught off guard in the opening of the forest. With no where to retreat, the encroaching enemy surrounded and killed men after men in the order's formation, closing in on the center. Reluctantly, General Oasar accepted their surrender and adopted our order. It was renewed to serve the newly created Empire. With the rise in Snake Cult activity after the conquering and the lapse in knowledge of medicine, our order was kept busy. Now, we still spread knowledge and work with scribes up in Poinsbruk from time to time. The Snake Cult is now more powerful then ever before and with them, disease. We will not stand by as Pendor succumbs under plague. The pestilence must be purged. The cause can only get stronger! Player: Thank you. That was interesting indeed. Trivia * They have an alliance with the Order of the Dawn, but many of their knights refuse to work with them due witnessing some of their atrocities such as "a Knight of the Radiant Cross told him their former allies, the Knights of Dawn, were guilty of many crimes. He witnessed their burning of a village after they slaughtered all the peasants there." - tavern rumor * "A Knight of the Raven Spear told a great joke; two Knights, one of the Radiant Cross and one of the Dawn plus a Huscarl meet in a tavern. The Radiant Cross knight first orders a bottle of wine... for medicinal purposes. The Huscarl then buys a strong rum, and immediately challenges all those present to a drinking contest. Finally, the Knight of Dawn steps up and buys the entire stock of whiskey. He then dumped it over the heads of the other two, set it aflame and walked out of the tavern laughing." - tavern rumor * "Marius seeks to turn us from the old Empire path we follow to the Pendorian ones. Those cretins of the Radiant Cross endorse the new ways but we follow tradition. What brought glory to our ancestors will surely bring glory to us! We would prefer to convert Marius to the old ways, to persuade him that the traditions of the Old Empire should endure. Marius would see us all become mounted knights, like those 'Lions' from Sarleon or the Dawn from Barclay. The only remains of the mighty fleet the Empire used to sail here are the soldiers that we had to train to become the marines you see today." - Shadow Legion Centurion * “A good friend of mine, Lucius Cenicius from Ethos, told me something about the Order of the Radiant Cross that still lurks in my mind. They call the Red Plague “Snake Cult Plague”, claiming that the Cult spreads it as a precursor to their invasion. But all of the “new evidences” about that claim are found … yes, from the very same Knights of the Radiant Cross. And nobody except them found any proof for that claim. In practice they may have spread the Red Plague themselves and to put the blame over the Cult only to justify their war against them! And to create a new plague a man must be great physician. Which their Order surely have at their disposal. How very convenient!" - V. the Scribe * “During my last trip to Ethos I`ve met a few physicians from the Order of the Radiant Cross, without even one guard to protect them. It happens that they`ve been attacked from a Snake Cult warband and all of their Plaguewardens hold the Cultists, purchasing the physicians time to run with their own lives. I was shocked that somebody is willing to attack the honest physicians! But then I thought that they surely must hold a great grudge against them to risk with an attack so close to the town and its garrison!" - V. the Scribe * They are also known for being great physicians in Pendor, among the best of that one can trust Category:Knighthood Orders Category:Order of the Radiant Cross Category:Ethos